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The BBC have issued an apology for comments made on British motoring show Top Gear, after Mexico's ambassador in London wrote a scathing letter of complaint about jokes aimed at his fellow countrymen.

Ambassador Eduardo Medina Mora was riled by quips made by hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May during an installment which was broadcast in the U.K. on Sunday.

During a section of the show, Hammond called Mexicans "lazy, feckless, flatulent, overweight" while Clarkson added, "That's why we won't get any complaints about this, because at the Mexican embassy the ambassador's going to be sitting there with a remote control like this (pretending to slump, snoring in a chair)."

The remarks outraged Mora, who demanded the presenters apologize for their "outrageous, vulgar and inexcusable insults".

Now heads at the BBC have written a letter in response to the ambassador, apologizing for offending some viewers, but adding that stereotype jokes are simply part of British humour.

A spokesperson for the BBC says, "Our own comedians make jokes about the British being terrible cooks and terrible romantics, and we in turn make jokes about the Italians being disorganized and over dramatic, the French being arrogant and the Germans being over-organized...

"Whilst it may appear offensive to those who have not watched the program or who are unfamiliar with its humour, the executive producer has made it clear to the ambassador that that was absolutely not the show's intention."